Developers broke ground on The Wynwood Plaza on Thursday, a 1M SF mixed-used project that is the largest yet in Miami’s Arts District.

The Wynwood Plaza at 95 Northwest 29th St. is being developed by L&L Holding Co. and Oak Row Equities, which acquired the site — where the former Rubell Museum once stood — in December 2021 for $53M. California developer Shorenstein Properties and Claure Group, the family office of former SoftBank and Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure, joined the project as partners.

The development team held a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday evening commemorating the start of construction after securing a $215M loan from Bank OZK, according to a press release.

“Recognizing the need to create something of lasting value to Miami, we assembled an all-star team capable of cultivating an environment that is every bit as unique, artistic and sophisticated as the colorful neighborhood that surrounds it,” L&L co-founders David Levinson and Robert Lapidus said in a joint statement.

When it opens, which is expected to be in 2025, the Gensler-designed Wynwood Plaza will feature a 509-unit apartment building, 32K SF of retail, 6,600 SF of outdoor dining and a half-acre public plaza designed by renowned landscape architecture firm James Corner Field Operations, which designed Brickell's Underline and Manhattan's High Line.

The developers are also building a 266K SF "Class AAA office tower," for which two pre-leases were announced along with the ribbon-cutting. Claure Group is taking the entire 25K SF eighth floor for its new headquarters, and New York law firm Weitz & Luxenberg is opening its first Miami office in the 18K SF second floor.

L&L Holding Co. and Oak Row Equities, which was formerly Carpe Real Estate Partners, plan to include extensive works from local artists throughout the development and the plaza. Their residential tower is planned to include a rooftop with a sports court, two outdoor pools, a sauna and coworking space among its amenities.

Wynwood Plaza’s groundbreaking comes shortly after the neighborhood saw its first hotel, the Arlo Wynwood, debut in November. The nine-story, 217-key boutique hotel was developed by Quadrum Global.

Other developments in the area include Rilea Group’s two 12-story buildings in the works on 29th Street. One will be a 260-unit apartment project called Mohawk and the other will be a 131-unit short-term rental building called The Rider, with 40K SF of retail combined.

Rilea President Diego Ojeda at a Bisnow event in the neighborhood last month compared Wynwood to SoHo in Manhattan — an artsy district "that has that 'it' factor."

"It's the Wild West, and it's the frontier. There's lots of raw land and lots of really cool projects coming off the ground," Ojeda said. "You have to be very unique and artistic because of all the murals that you're allowed to do and want to do. So you really show your true colors on the projects there."